20 Weeks: The Boys Closet – Cleaned!

Welcome to my weekly update of my 20 Week Organization Challenge. I’m on week 3! This week I completed organizing the “Boys Closet Shelf,” which included storing their extra bedding.

We bought matching beds for the boys and once they are set up, we will lose the four drawers under H’s current bed. I was using two of the drawers to store spare sheets and blankets and two to store the clothes H’s outgrown that we are saving for E.

Last week I tackled the boys toy storage in their closet. Moving everything to the cubby-shelf freed up the four baskets that were on the floor. I figured these would be perfect for the job. I promptly filled them all up with bed linens and clothes. Also we’d just been shoving the spare mattress pads (and other random junk) up into the corners of the closet shelf, since they wouldn’t fit in the drawers.

Here’s what THAT looked like:

The baskets, now full of sheets, clothes and mattress pads went onto the upper closet shelf, next to the toys I was already keeping put up high in matching baskets (like playdoh, paint and puzzles). They all have tags so I can see which basket I need to pull down when it’s time to change the bed. I also found a space in the cupboard above the washer just outside their room for the humidifier, and I took some things out of the closet that didn’t belong in there to start with, like that box of cloth diapers for the new baby.

The result: Seven labeled baskets across the top of the closet, and no more random things shoved into the corners. Nothing will fit up here but the baskets. And they look great!

Voilà! Another item crossed off the list! “Boys Closet Shelf.” I didn’t really realize how easily this project and last week’s project would perfectly roll into one. But yay! And bonus points for not buying anything new to organize that top shelf with! Though fewer points, since I clearly bought that hanging organizer thingy for E’s clothes.

On the note of buying things, I wanted to share with you one of my favorite blogs: The Crunchy Chicken. Last week she blogged about being Trapped By Your Possessions, and her past years’ Buy Nothing Challenge. It’s a great idea and one I’d love to participate in, but I’m afraid with baby on the way I’d bomb-out completely. I am going to try to limit my unnecessary purchases (more then we already do, that is). But as I commented on her post, although I can’t promise not to buy anything right now, I can promise to purge until it fits!

How have you been finding ways to organize your spaces? Have you made a list? Have you crossed items off yet?

This post is part of the Organizing Junkie blog party!
To see what I’ve done in the last three weeks, check out my other 20 Weeks posts!

Holy organization, Batman! I was doing some random blog surfing and…
that is CRAZY organized! Granted, i’m a college student with a single room in the dorms, so not only am I a lazy 21 year old guy, I’m a lazy 21 year old guy with nobody to keep me accountable. I haven’t seen my floor since freshman year…
I dig the agriculture side of your blog a lot though! I’m a student at the University of Northern Iowa, so ag is kind of a big deal around here. It’s cool that you’re doing it in a more urban setting. I’ll subscribe and hopefully find some motivation to organize and whatnot…

I love the baskets too, the closet looks great. Also, where did you find those hanging shelves that are open on the top to actually hang clothes “within” them?….I haven’t seen something like that, great idea.

Love the new look! I want to know more about the hanging organization. What a great use of the space below where the clothes are hanging. Where did you get those and what are they called? A link would be great! I am running out this weekend to buy them! Thanks!

Melissa – do you mean the yellow boxes? If so, unfortunately I won’t be much help. My son got two sets of big legos in them as a gift. There weren’t that many legos in each one, so we keep all the blocks in another basket and we use those for all his wooden trains & train tracks. The lids snap on pretty securely, so they’re a bit hard for my four year old to open, but the size is great. Wish I could get more too!!

I just noticed your after picture at Organizing Junkie {I’m getting organized this year!} and I absolutely love those hanging organizers. We haven’t been able to find a dresser for our youngest son and that is just what we need to keep his clothing organized. Thanks for sharing!